100 Years of Leica

[cgw]

Sliced a bit thick but still worth a look:

A Look Back at 100 Years of Leica Cameras

 

[Derrel]

Watched the video....ehhhh...okay I guess. The exhibition was probably really wonderful to see.

As a boy, I read some articles detailing Barnack's development of the original camera, and its transition into the Leica camera. Really, a pretty amazing development that moved photography away from being dominated by "the posed" exposure, and more into the realm of the "instantaneous" exposure as the expected norm.

I was hoping for more historical exposition about the various stages of the Leica's place in the camera world's development and history. I also think crediting 1914 as the start of "the Leica" is a bit of a jumping of the gun, but whatever...they can do yet another 100 year anniversary when the real 100th anniversary rolls around in 2025. As we know, the folks there never miss a chance for an anniversary product release!!!

 

[Gary A.]

This interesting ... much better than the other Leica produced video showing images not captured with Leica, but claiming since Leica invented the 35mm format (cough-cough) that they (Leica) could claim all 35mm images to have a Leica legacy.

I would swear the Nick Ut photo was shot with a Nikon. (But what do know...)

 

[Derrel]

Ut talks about that famous photo in this interview...he DID shoot both Nikon and Leica during the war...he carried four cameras around he says...

Interview with Nick Ut, the Photojournalist Who Shot the Iconic "Napalm Girl" Photo

 

[cgw]

This is still my favorite Leica love letter:

Candid Camera - The New Yorker

 

[cgw]

Watched the video....ehhhh...okay I guess. The exhibition was probably really wonderful to see.

As a boy, I read some articles detailing Barnack's development of the original camera, and its transition into the Leica camera. Really, a pretty amazing development that moved photography away from being dominated by "the posed" exposure, and more into the realm of the "instantaneous" exposure as the expected norm.

I was hoping for more historical exposition about the various stages of the Leica's place in the camera world's development and history. I also think crediting 1914 as the start of "the Leica" is a bit of a jumping of the gun, but whatever...they can do yet another 100 year anniversary when the real 100th anniversary rolls around in 2025. As we know, the folks there never miss a chance for an anniversary product release!!!

The little Kodak Vest Pocket Autographic always seems to get overlooked as a watershed camera. So many of our surviving WWI photos trace back to these inexpensive folders whose size allowed British and Canadian troops to skirt regulations prohibiting field photography.

 

[Derrel]

Inexpensive Kodak folder, early 1930's family photo of my dad...

Opening weekend of trout season, ca. 1934. Bamboo fly rod poking out of the car. A "box lunch" on the running board of the old ragtop! yes, the small, folding Kodak cameras were very capable, and were affordable. I had a 1940 Bass Camera catalog; a Leica and 50mm f/2 lens was around $429 in 1940; a Contax II was $459, with the very fastest Sonnar 50mm, $489. Those expensive German 35mm cameras really had almost ZERO market penetration among real people; $429 was a huge amount of money in 1940 dollars. The Leica was the Canon 1DX or Nikon D4s or its era.